The Puppet Master
by TheDarkCaller
Summary: Skiddles and Ego hear of some ghost story, so of coarse they go and investigate. will they return safe and sound? or be a new member of The Puppet Show? rated T because i don't how to really rate my work...


My second Squad fic. inspired by this drawing image/133767135780

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The house was empty save for dusty furniture and splintered wood cabinets. The wood creaked beneath their feet as they stepped inside. The air was musty and smelled of mold, rotten wood, and-

James winkled his nose and clamped a hand over his face, waving the other in front of him.

"It smells like something DIED in here, ego!" James gaged as he took a few steps back toward the door.

"Leave and you owe me fifty quid!" Ego bellowed as he pointed the flash light at the younger. James rolled his eyes and pulled his shirt over his nose and moved forward.

It was a dare; get to the basement and bring back evidence. Ego brought it up after some of the neighbor kids told them about how the house was haunted or something. Some old man lived in it and he collected puppets. One day a murder came and slaughtered his best friends. The old man went crazy after seeing his friends die in front of him and he somehow stuck their souls into his puppets. When he died he became a ghost and now the puppets wander mindlessly in the basement.

So of course these two British twats decided to dare the other to go and get a puppet! The problem was what if there weren't any puppets to get? What if it was just a normal house? So the solution was to have both go in. and if the other left the house than they would have to give the one who stayed 50 quid. It was just a dare. Just a dare.

As the two walked farther into the house, the smells only got worse. Ego flashed the light around, rolling his eyes at the little noises the old building was making. James began to worry when he swore he saw a part of the ceiling fall. As the two walked out of the living room, down the hall, into one of the bed rooms, they couldn't help but feel like they were being watched.

"This is dumb! Lets just go." James threw his arms up in the air and spun on his heal. He nearly screamed when he saw the puppet hanging in the closest across the room.

"whats got your pants in a twist, James?" Ego shined the light over the trembling Rainbow's solider. The puppet was clean and void of scratches and dust. It appeared to be an angel. Ego stepped around the frozen youth and yanked the puppet out of the closet, the rattling it made echoed in the building.

"This? This stupid thing scared you? Look its just wood and plastic!" Ego whipped the puppet around, James staring at it with fear, concern growing with each swing. He eventually he snatched the puppet away from the slime and gently straitened it out; untangling the strings and straitening the wings.

"Dude, you can't just mess with people's stuff like that! W-what if she's REALLY haunted? Yo-you want to upset the g-ghost?" James held the puppet close, as if it was an old friend. Ego rolled his eyes and tried to reach for the puppet, but James turned away from him, still clutching the wood and plastic marinate. Ego growled and jumped for him, but James was faster than the older and dashed for it, the puppet's arms draping around his neck as if it was holding on to him. The awful smell of the house and the scary atmosphere was ignored as Ego chased James around the decrepit living room.

Everything was as fine as it could get in a potentially haunted house, but Ego noticed the puppet's head move. It tilted to look at him, its one eye staring into his soul, the black star on the other side seeming to be full of the void itself. The slime stopped in his tracks the moment the puppet grew teeth and smiled at him.

"J-James I think you should put that down. Now."

"Oh, so you can bash her head on the floor?"

"James, seriously, p-put that thing down. And stop calling it a "her"! It's a thing, James!"

James glared and so did the puppet. Ego pointed at it and James titled his head. When he looked at the angle she seemed perfectly normal. James heard the floor creak as Ego tried to get closer. There was a moment of fight or flight for the both of them, but the two defiantly screamed when they heard a gruff voice from the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" The older man glared at James as he approached, the rainbow stuttering as he out stretched his arms to return the puppet.

"s-sorry sir, m-my friend and I d-didn't- I mean- you have a lovely puppet and-" the man scooped the puppet out of the boy's arms and petted her head. Ego swore he saw it's eye close as the man looked over them.

"Why are you two in my house?"

"Your house? Wait, you mean to tell you actually LIVE here?" Ego gestured to the disheveled living room (although their chase through the room didn't help make it any better) as he looked at the elder with disbealf.

"I haven't had time to clean up upset stairs."

"oh, and the basement is SPOTLESS?" Ego glared hard at the man. James took a few steps back towards the door before Ego pointed at him, knowing he was trying to leave.

"Well if you don't believe me than why don't you go down and see? That's what you brats what to do anyway!" The elder cradled his puppet as he walked back down stairs, Ego marching right after him before James grabbed his shirt.

"Are you INSANE?"

"What do you mean?"

"Old house, puppets, and an old man with a creepy beard! He even wants us to go into the basement! Ego, does this sound like a GOOD idea to you?" The rainbow released him and the slime stared at him before following the older man down the stairs.

"I'm not giving you fifty quid! I'm going down there and I'm bringing back a souvenir!"

James slowly shook his head as he backed up to the door.

"Fifty quid ain't worth your life…"

Down below, the steps didn't creak and the air smelled fresh. Ego's steps made a good solid sound as he descended, but it was still dark. Good thing he had his flash light, or else he would have missed out on the puppets hanging from the ceiling, their strings so long they hung limp just above the ground. Ego raised a brow at a paladin and poked it with his light. The armor clattered like armor on a puppet would and the puppet's head tilted, its eye centering on Ego. He shivered and moved on. As he looked about the room, he huffed.

"I must admit. This place IS spotless!"

"hahahaha! Well of course! My friends are always making a mess so I'm always cleaning up after them." The old man seemed to be fiddling with a puppet, the sound of wet paint on wood echoing strangely.

"Your friends? You have people come over here just to hang out in the basement?"

"Oh no, my friends are always in the basement. Because of them I don't have people over."

Ego blinked in confusion. His friends are always in the basement? But the only thing down here is-

Puppets. The story. His friends' souls trapped in the puppets. Ego trembled as he took a step back. The boy screamed when he bumped into another puppet and it's hand fell on his solider. Ego was so startled he dropped the flash light, the torch rolling until it bumped into a puppet's foot, shutting off. The young slime scrambled for the stairs but all he found was puppets. It felt like they grabbed him, held him in place. He started shouting for James-for anyone really- but all he heard was the sound of wood and plastic rattling together and a deep throaty laugh.

"Don't worry; your friend will be joining you soon. Now, where's that flash light? Ah! Thank you Heather!" Ego's flash light was flashed into his eyes, blinding him with something other than darkness. The grip he felt around him tightened and his feet left the ground. The next moment a small light brightened the room, the flash light bring clicked off in response.

"ah, thanks snoop! Couldn't see that switch." The man was holding a limp puppet in the crook of his arm as he set the flash light down on a work table.

Ego struggled with whatever was holding him. Now that the room was lit a bit, he could see it was a few puppets; the angle, a man with orange hair, a blond woman and a blue haired one. They all had that look the angle had earlier, there one eye staring into him and the black stars that seemed to be full of the void. The Angel twisted his arm and he screamed.

"Christa! I know he hurt your feelings but you should learn to get along! After all…." The man stepped forward and held the puppet he was painting in front of Ego, as if he was making sure the puppet was the right size. "Hes going to be joining the Squad."

"N-no way! No way am I going to let you turn me into a puppet!" Ego blurted as he eyed the wooded puppet, the wood polished in a way it shined like slime. It looked like the others: wood with metal loops for joins on the legs and arms, pointed claw like hands and only one eye. What made his different was the lack of the black star.

The puppets came to life all at once. They cackled and screamed with joy, throwing their heads back in laugher. The old man placed the puppet down on the work table with the flash light. The puppet with the orange hair grabbed Ego's head and forced it forward, the Blonde one letting go only to return with a gag.

"Good thinking patti! That'll keep him from screaming." The man reached up and grabbed Ego's face, tilting it so he had a good look at his left eye. "You know, normally I would just have my friends kill you. I could always use some slime balls. But you got quit the ego on you! Haha! I like it!" the man painted a black star over Ego's eye before letting him go.

Ego felt a burning sensation around his eye, smoke beginning to stream off of it. If he could he would have screamed his lungs out. Oh the torcher! Oh the pain! All for a stupid dare! It was just a dare! Tears streamed down Ego's right eye, the left consumed by whatever was eating away at it. The only sound that could be heard was Ego's muffled whimpers as the puppets gripped him tightly, trying to keep him from struggling. The old man pointed at a puppet just out of Ego's range of sight and said "Go get Christa's new friend. Make sure not to ruff him up too much, Lynne." The sound of plastic rattling echoed behind him, a strange cat like screech was muffled by the rattling it was so loud.

Upstairs the house was empty. The puppet dug its claws into the splintered wood as it leaped around like a feral animal. It's one eye scanned the house before realizing her target was gone. It roared in anger, but her frustration was smothered by the loud, agonizing scream that erupted from down stairs. She slunk back down and purred at the sight; a once living corps dropped to the floor, the body hallowed out to only be stiff skin that will be burnt in the furnace later. A trail of blood and slime running to the work bench as the old man cleaned up his new puppet, the black star pulsating.

"The other one gone Lynne?"

"YeS mOdIi DeArIe. He GoT aWaY…" the puppet clattered to the ground, a second picking her up.

"ItS oKaY lYnNe, ThEy'Ll CoMe BaCk…" the red head with a beanie stood her fellow puppet up as Modii went over to detangle their strings.

The puppets seemed to converse with one another while Ego sat on the work bench, a silent scream on his wooden face.

"E-Ego?" James took a few steps into the house. It had been a day since his friend went missing. James had run to the police but no one would believe his story. The only person to believe him was the father of one of the neighbor kids. The man flashed his light around and held the child close; he has seen too many people enter this house and not leave it.

" , w-what if hes dead? What…what if-"

"Try to stay positive James."

"b-but if he IS dead, then we'll die too!" James nearly screamed when the wood creaked at the end of the hall they were facing. Dawgeth narrowed his eyes down the hall and called out, James following suit. The two were blinded by a bright light and once their eyes adjusted, James recognized the light as his friend's flash light.

"EGO!" he screeched as he ran forward, Dawgeth snatching him quickly.

"Hang on James! Somethings not right."

"what do you mean? Its EGO! Hes okay!"

Dawgeth looked at the boy than shined his light down the hall. James' smile fell, tears forming in his orange and yellow eyes. The figure down the hall was as tall as Ego, was slimy like Ego, and even had his flash light- but it wasn't Ego. At least, not his body. The puppet stood there with the help of it's strings, its eye stared into James with a mixture of fondness and hatred.

The puppet raised his hand and pointed at the two, a mouth forming as it lowered the torch.

"GeT oUt Of HeRe, J-J-aMeS!" the puppet spoke as if it didn't know it could till just then.

Dawgeth yanked James out of the building, the rainbow shouting for his friend.

The two were long gone with Lynne and a magma like puppet showed up out from under the couch.

"YoU lEt ThEm GeT aWaY!" the magma puppet snapped it's iron jaws at Ego.

"H-He CaNt DiE. hE oWeS mE fIfTy Q-Q-uId…"


End file.
